The Muir Army Airfield is a military

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

at Fort Indiantown Gap, near Annville,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is home to the Eastern Army National Guard Aviation Training Site (EAATS), operated by the

Pennsylvania Army National Guard The Pennsylvania Army National Guard, abbreviated PAARNG, is part of the United States Army National Guard and is based in the U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Together with the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, it is directed by the Pennsylva ...

. It is northeast of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the List of c ...

, in

South Central Pennsylvania South Central Pennsylvania is a region of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that includes the fourteen counties of Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Huntingdon, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Perry, Snyder, and York. Portions of west ...

. The airfield has one active

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

designated 7/25 with a

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

surface.

History

Muir Army Airfield was established as an

airstrip An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

in the 1930s and was originally the central parade ground and emergency landing field of the Fort Indiantown Gap military reservation. On July 12, 1941, the first airplane piloted by Major Edgar Scattergood, Air Office of the 28th Infantry Division, landed on the newly dedicated Muir Field.Muir Army Airfield and EAATS
GlobalSecurity.Org. Retrieved 2011-02-03. The 3200 x 100 foot runway was of good size for fixed-wing aircraft at the time; however, the Army Corps of Engineers built the runway in a northeast-southwest direction. The prevailing wind blows out of the

mountains A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher th ...

from the northwest, so there is usually a permanent crosswind during normal weather conditions. The airfield was named in honor of

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Charles H. Muir, the Commanding General of the 28th Division during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Units

Combat Aviation Brigade, 28th Infantry Division ** 114_Avn_Rgt_DUI

Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) ** 114_Avn_Rgt_DUI

2d Battalion (General Support), 104th Aviation Regiment (2-104th GSAB) ** 628_Spt_Bn_DUI

628th Aviation Support Battalion (628th ASB)

Eastern Army National Guard Training Site

EAATS was established in by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

in 1981EAATS history and profile

. Retrieved 2011-02-03. and focuses on utility and cargo missions, specifically conducting

Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift Utility helicopter, utility military helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted the S-70 design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transpo ...

Eurocopter UH-72 Lakota The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) UH-72 Lakota is a twin-engine helicopter with a single, four-bladed main rotor. The UH-72 is a militarized version of the Eurocopter EC145, built by American Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters, Inc.), a ...

, and

Boeing CH-47 Chinook The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is a tandem rotor helicopter developed by American rotorcraft company Vertol and manufactured by Boeing Vertol. The Chinook is a heavy-lift helicopter that is among the heaviest lifting Western helicopters. Its name, Ch ...

qualifications for

pilots An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

, instructor pilots, and maintenance test pilots, as well as enlisted maintainers and crewmembers.Army National Guard (ARNG) Aviation Training Sites (AATS)

, 2010. Retrieved 2011-02-03. The 28th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade, headquartered at Muir Army Airfield, provides all the maintenance support for EAATS.

Statistics

Muir Army Airfield currently accommodates 75

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s and three

fixed-wing aircraft A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinc ...

, conducting about 70,000 take-offs and landings annually, making it the second busiest helicopter base in the world.About Ft. Indiantown Gap
Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Retrieved 2011-02-03.

References

External links